Solder material maker Shenmao Technology will actively expand its presence in Southeast Asia, with plans to expand its factory in Vietnam, according to the Taiwan-based company.

IC design houses continue to seek price reductions from wafer foundries and are hesitant to accept any price increases, according to industry sources.

When analyzing the supply and demand of global semiconductor design talents in 2021, one finds companies US-based companies to be the main source of chip design demand. US-based companies accounted for 43% of the global demand for semiconductor design talent, followed by China and Taiwan, which accounted for 27% and 14% respectively.

Although India's semiconductor manufacturing plans are relatively new, the country has been a strong player in the chip design engineering services sector. One of the key Indian companies active in this field is L&T Technology Services (LTTS). Recently, DIGITIMES Asia had an exclusive conversation with the company's CEO and MD, Amit Chadha, to gather insights into their plans and market outlook.

IC design houses expect their business to hit bottom in the first quarter but the outlook for the rest of the year remains uncertain despite seeing price pressure ease slightly, according to industry sources.

China's Baidu recently announced the AI product "ERNIE Bot," which uses the second generation of Kunlun AI chip in its model. Besides focusing on AI chip development, Baidu is also focusing on applying Kunlun chips to autonomous driving. Recently, Chinese automaker BYD has invested in Kunlun to expand its planning for high-end autonomous vehicles (AV).

Despite persistently weak demand for PCs, handsets, and consumer electronics devices, the automotive and industrial sectors continue to see robust momentum, with supplies of certain chips, such as car-use MCUs and MPUs, remaining tight, according to industry sources.

Memory chip prices are expected to bottom out and stop falling soon, with more suppliers optimistic about the market's prospects in the second half of this year, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

Nvidia, which possesses key AI and GPU software and hardware capabilities, has been thrust into the spotlight over the last two years, driven by the growth of the metaverse and the recent emergence of ChatGPT.

TSMC has seen a ramp-up in orders from Nvidia for the GPU vendor's A100 and H100 chips, as well as lower-spec A800 series explicitly designed for the Chinese market, according to industry sources.

BGA (ball grid array) packaging demand for high-pixel and large-size automotive CMOS image sensor (CIS) chips remains in high gear, but lower-end car-use CIS products processed with wafer-level chip scale package (WLCSP) technology are showing signs of an oversupply, undermining backend demand and triggering price falls, according to sources with CIS packagers.